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TEEN NEWS RELEASE

CONTACT:    Kathy Cooper

PHONE:    507-319-3245

RICE COUNTY & NORTHFIELD TEENS REMINDED TO BUCKLE UP ALWAYS

Rice County Safe Roads Coalition —  Click It or Ticket Seat Belt Education and Enforcement May 18-31, 2015

NORTHFIELD & RICE COUNTY — All teenagers are reminded to buckle up always as the Northfield Police, along with all law enforcement agencies with the Rice County MOD Squad are taking part in a statewide Click It or Ticket enhanced seat belt education and enforcement campaign May 18-31.

Low seat belt use contributes to the high number of teenagers and young adults involved in fatal crashes. Of the 587 motorists killed in unbelted deaths during 2009-2013, 237 (40 percent) were motorists ages 15-29, according to the Minnesota Department of Public Safety (DPS) Office of Traffic Safety.  In Rice County during a three-year period, 2011-2013 there were 60 fatal and serious injury crashes.   Of those, 16 or 33%, were unbelted.  This is higher than the State average.

The Safe Roads Coalition encourages parents to talk to their teen to set driving rules and reinforce teen driving laws — such as seat belts for drivers and all passengers and no texting laws. Parents also should continue to train and monitor their teen driver, especially during the potentially deadly first year of licensure.

“Stressing seat belt use and providing supervised driving experience on a variety of road types and conditions is one of the best things parents can do to help their teens,” says Kathy Cooper. “We also encourage parents to set and follow through with consequences if their teen is not following driving rules and laws.”  The Coalition also calls on teachers, coaches and parents to stress the buckle up message to keep our teens safe.   Of course, we all must be role models, and buckle up too.

Northfield Police Chief Monte Nelson notes that already this year, in 2015, there have been three fatal crashes in Rice County.  Two of those fatal crashes were in early April in a 5-day period both with teen drivers.  One teen driver was unbelted, ejected and killed and in the other crash a passenger was killed.

Our message to teens is to speak up when driving and insist their passengers in the vehicle buckle up.  An unbelted motorist can crash into a windshield and slam into and injure or kill other passengers. Often, an unbelted motorist is ejected from the vehicle and killed when the vehicle rolls over them.

Speaking up also is important to stop other unsafe behaviors such as distracted driving, including texting, driving at unsafe speeds and other rowdy behaviors.

Seat belts restrain motorists in the vehicle’s designed protective space, giving them room to live in the event of a crash. Seat belts also keep a motorist correctly positioned behind the wheel to help maintain control of a vehicle.

Seat belt tips:

Motorists should wear lap belts low and snug across the hips; shoulder straps should never be tucked under an arm or behind the back — not only is this unsafe, it is illegal.

Airbags are designed to work with seat belts to keep vehicle occupants in a safe position during a crash — airbags are not effective when the motorist is not belted.

In Minnesota, law enforcement will stop and ticket unbelted drivers and passengers. Drivers and all passengers, including the back seat, must be buckled up or in the correct child restraint.

Guide for Parents to Establish Safer Teen Drivers

• Provide significant supervised driving training, and continue to do so even after licensure.
• Train teen on a variety of road types (urban, rural) and in different conditions (night, rain, snow).
• Talk with teen to reinforce laws and set limits (such as passenger limitations, nighttime driving) — and use a driving contract between parent and teen to set rules.
• Encourage teen to speak up when they feel unsafe in a vehicle to stop unsafe driving behaviors.
• A “teen license parent withdrawal form” is available for parents to cancel the driving privileges of their teen’s driver’s license (under age 18)

Find resources including a driver’s skills checklist, a parent-teen contract, teen driver laws and the parent withdrawal form online at ots.dps.mn.gov, click on “Teen Driving,” found under “Traffic Topics.”

Parents, grandparents and other caregivers should also know: Where their teen is going; who they’ll be with; and when they are expected to be home. Parents should also make themselves available to pick up their children at any time or location.

Toward Zero Deaths
The Click It or Ticket seat belt education and enforcement campaign is a component of the state’s Toward Zero Deaths (TZD) initiative. A primary vision of the TZD program is to create a safe driving culture in Minnesota in which motorists support a goal of zero road fatalities by practicing and promoting safe and smart driving behavior. TZD focuses on the application of four strategic areas to reduce crashes — education, enforcement, engineering and emergency trauma response.

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